Comments (17)
Reply
Permalink
Flag
2
1¶Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:" "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
I prefer the simple and clear wording of Matthew 24:29-31 to a complicated interpretation of God's Word.
Fact: It was Jesuit priests who first started to promote the false teaching of a pre-tribulation rapture!
If you will check the counter reformation move of Papal Rome in the 16th century after Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. You will find that Pope Leo X authorized three Jesuit Priests to reinterpret Daniel’s 70 weeks of prophecy; the Book of Revelation; and Ezekiel. The goal of these Jesuits was to take the heat of the Protestant Reformation away from the papacy. The three Jesuits were:
Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) of Salamanca – futurism/rapturists
Luis de Alcazar (1554-1621) of Seville – praeterism
Cardinal Roberto Bellarmine (1542-1621) – followed Ribera’s school of thought.
The futurists rapture doctrine originated and was submitted by Francisco Ribera in 1585. His Apocalyptic Commentary was on the grand points of Babylon and Anti-christ which we now call the futurists or rapture doctrine. Ribera’s published work was called “In Sacram Beati Ionnis Apostoli ” Evangelistate Apocoalypsin Commentari (Lugduni 1593). You can still find these writings in the Bodleian Library in Oxford England.
Ribera’s futurist interpretation rocked not only the Protestant church , but also the Catholic church so the Pope ordered it buried in the archives out of sight. Unfortunately, over 200 years later a librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the name of S. R. Maitland (1792-1866) was appointed to be the Keeper of the Manuscripts at Lambeth Palace, in London, England. In his duties, Dr. Maitland came across Francisco Ribera’s futurists/rapture teaching and he had it republished for the sake of interest in early 1826 with follow ups in 1829 and 1830. This was spurred along with the Oxford Tracts that were published in 1833 to try and deprotestantize the Church of England.
John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) (A Leader of the Plymouth Brethren) became a follower of S.R. Maitland’s prophetic endeavors and was persuaded. Darby’s influence in the seminaries of Europe combined with 7 tours of the United States changed the eschatological view of the ministers which had the trickle down effect into the churches. Darby’s/Ribera’s teachings were embraced radically by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921). Scofield adopted Darby’s/Ribera’s school of prophetic thought into the Scofield Reference Bible of 1909 which was heralded as the “book of books”.
Another contributor to the rapturist’s chaotic prophetic line of thought came through Emmanuel Lacunza (1731-1801), a Jesuit priest from Chile. Lacunza wrote the “Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty” around 1791. It was later published in London in 1827. The book was attributed to a fictitious author name Rabbi Juan Josafat BenEzra. Reverend Edward Irving (1792-1834) contended that it was the work of a converted Jew and proved that even the Jewish scholars embraced a pre-tribulation rapture line of thought. It wasn’t long until he had persuaded others to follow his line of thought which gave birth to the Irvingites (per your reference to Margaret McDonald).
In March 1830, in Port Glasgow, Scotland, 15 year old Margaret McDonald made claim of her visions. Robert Norton published Margaret’s visions and prophecies in a book entitled, “The Restoration of Apostles and Prophets in the Catholic Apostolic Church” (London, 1861). Although the modern day view of every believer being taken away in a rapture is different from all of the thoughts that came before it, there is little doubt to it’s error.
Lacunza casserted that only those believers that partake of the sacrament of the Eucharist would be raptured; while Margaret McDonald said the rapture would only take those that were filled with the Holy Spirit; and Norton claimed that only those that had been sealed with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands would be raptured. Definitely confusion ensued. John Darby, an ordained deacon in the Church of England, was acquainted with Edward Irving and had visited Margaret McDonald during the time of her visions. Combined with the knowledge he had gained from S.R. Maitland/Ribera’s teachings and the new push from Irving/McDonald/Lucunza’s teachings, Darby used the rapture theory to bring a clean break from the lethargic Church of England.
Thess 1:4
Tell Iraqi Christians they will be raptures before persecution and listen to their response to get the facts on what the Bible teaches.
1 John 2:18 ¶Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
2 John 1:7 ¶For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
You see that antichrist has something to do with Jesus Christ. It means anyone who does not hold the true doctrine that Jesus Christ taught. It's interesting you said, "Vatican priests" because I would include those guys as antichrist! Of course they don't know the Bible because they don't even read it, for if they did, they would not be oowing and praying before statues and idols which God said not to do, And they would not be saying things like, ""outside the church there is no salvation" The Bible teaches that Jesus is the Savior, not the CHURCH!!! The true Chruch of Jesus Christ consists of all the believers in Him. It is NOT an organizaiton of man like the Vatican or Roman Catholic church is! How do I know that? I was a Roman Catholic for 20 years and have come to the light of the Gospel of Jesus from the King James Version of the Bible, the only truely acurate version today. Modern versions are based on bad manuscripts.
Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The short simple prayer is not meant to be a mere intellectual acceptance of Christ, but a real "calling on the Lord". Only the people who know they are a sinnner would want to even pray such a prayer. Would an atheist pray such a prayer? Only when and if they are repenting of their unbelief! If they pray it, doesn't it mean they are also repenting of their sins? I think the prayer means as much as whatever the person who prays it wants it to mean. God knows the heart.
Do prayers have to be a word for word quotation of the King James version of the Bible? My KJV Bible doesn't teach that.
Daniel 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Most good Bible scholars will agree that the "horn" is referring to the Antichrist. He persecutes us during the Tribulation.
This is confirmed in the Book of Revelation:
Revelation 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
The "saints" are the Church. This is a clear as a bell for the New Testiment (KJV) lists the word saint 60 times and it always refers to the Church. Here are 7 references.
Acts 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Acts 9:32 ¶And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.
Acts 9:41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.
Acts 26:10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
Romans 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 12:13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
The confusion most English speaking Christians have is associating the Tribulation with the Wrath of God. They are two different events in the Endtime senario according to Daniel, Revelation, and Matthew 24.
Revelation 21:1 ¶And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. Note carefully that the base of this city is a square. The Bible talks about the base, but not the top of the city. If the top is also square, the city would be a perfect cube. The author, David Berg, tended to think it is not a cube, but could be a pyramid! To me this sounds like a perfectly logical interpretation. The Bible also speaks of the "holy mountain" 16 verses in all, the first one is: Isaiah 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Mountains are always narrower on the top than on the bottom, just like a pyramid would be. In some Christian artwork, the City is shown to be flat like any city would look. But how could it be flat if the height is the same as the length? Some people think that the Great Pyramid in Egypt could only have been made by God because even present day technology could not build it! And did you know there is Biblical symbolism in the Great Pyramid? One Christian website talks about it: http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/great.htm Satan is the imitator of God. He uses a pyramid shape too to symbolize his kingdom. The Egyptians made many pyramids, but none compare to the Great Pyramid in size. A pyramid is on the US dollar as you know which symbolizes the Devil's control over the USA. But that doesn't mean a pyramid shape is something that has only to do with the devil. You may not agree with the pyramid shape of the Holy City interpretation, and that's OK with me. I just think if not a pyramid then what could it be? Either a cube, or perhaps a cone the higher it goes? It certainly cannot be flat according to the Scripture. But none of this really makes a difference for our lives in service to God in this dispensation of time.
